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Smith sticking to college plan

Posted: Thursday, June 11, 2009

By ROGER CLARKSON

Major League Baseball knocked on Bryson Smith's door, but the former North Oconee standout did not answer.

Smith turned down pre-draft offers by the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins and will follow through on his letter of intent to play at Florida. He was also drafted in the 30th round by the Cleveland Indians.

Smith said he had not talked with Cleveland, but will turn them down as well. He said that he had received a message Wednesday evening from the Indians but had not returned their call yet.

"I'm headed to Florida," Smith said. "I hadn't really played at a big school, and I really want to play in the SEC. You might as well do it when you can."

North Oconee coach Dwayne Sapp said that Smith turned down offers of $350,000 from Kansas City and $275,000 from Minnesota.

The offers would have positioned him in the third or fourth round.

"There just wasn't that much money for me to go," Smith said. "It would be better to play this year in the SEC and hopefully I can get drafted higher."

Smith worked out in Kansas City and the Royals offered to pay for his college, Sapp said.

"We were expecting anywhere from the third to the fifth round," North Oconee coach Dwayne Sapp said. "He's a straight-A kid. He's going into the medical field. He's still got two years to go into the draft. It was going to have to be a pretty substantial offer for him to take it."

Bryson was named the national junior college player of the year by the American baseball coaches association after last season. The second baseman at Young Harris batted .469 with 20 home runs and 94 RBIs last season. He has signed to play at Florida and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

"He's making a good decision," Sapp said. "If he does anything close in the SEC like he did in junior college he'll skyrocket next year. I told him, 'A couple of hundred thousand after taxes, you'll make that your first year as a doctor.' "